A study on question dodgers: those who give brilliantly compelling answers to a question that should have been asked, but wasn’t, are admired. Those who plainly dodge questions to manipulate the listener, however, are viewed with asperity.
Conversational Blindness: Answering the Wrong Question the Right Way
Published:October 15, 2008
Paper Released:September 2008
Authors:Todd Rogers and Michael I. Norton
HBS Working Paper Number: 09-048
Abstract
What happens when people try to “dodge” a question they would rather not answer by answering a different question? Two experiments demonstrated conversational blindness – listeners’ surprising failure to notice such dodges – and explored the interpersonal consequences of this phenomenon. Listeners viewed successful question-dodgers as positively as speakers who actually answered the question they are asked, but were not blind to all efforts to dodge: They both noticed – and punished – particularly egregious attempts (Study 1). More troubling[sic], listeners preferred speakers who answered the wrong question well over those who answered the right question poorly (Study 2).
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